Workers' furloughs trimmed

Furloughs for federal workers, including West Point and Air National Guard employees locally have been reduced by about half, according to Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney.

BY MICHAEL RANDALL

Furloughs for federal workers, including West Point and Air National Guard employees locally have been reduced by about half, according to Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney.

Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel has scaled back furloughs from 11 days to six.

About 640,000 federal employees nationwide are in their fifth week of working one less day a week because of the budget-cutting process known as sequestration.

Nearly 2,000 civilian workers at West Point and 236 technicians at the Air National Guard's 105th Airlift Wing at the Stewart Air National Guard Base were forced to take the unpaid days off after Congress was unable to agree on budget cuts.

Don Hale, president of Local 2367 of the American Federation of Government Employees, which represents West Point workers, said while they're happy the workers will have less unpaid time off, "It doesn't change our opinion as a union that the furloughs were not warranted in the first place." The local is appealing its lost wages through the federal Merit System Protection Board.

One worker at the 105th, who asked to remain anonymous, said he and his colleagues had mixed feelings.

"While many of us are happy about the furlough days being reduced by five days, many of us still have anxiety about the foreseeable future," he said. That includes concern about talk there might be a second furlough next year. Maloney, D-Cold Spring, praised the latest development but said steps need to be taken to prevent more furloughs in the future. "While this is a step in the right direction, Congress needs to stop the partisan fighting and pass a balanced, long-term budget solution that puts an end to sequestration and puts Hudson Valley families back to work," Maloney said.

Maloney previously sent a letter to President Barack Obama and Hagel after voting to give the Pentagon more flexibility on sequestration cuts. After visiting with employees from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, Maloney spoke on the House floor condemning congressional inaction on the federal budget and calling for a balanced compromise.

mrandall@th-record.com

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